It certainly keeps all of the matter from the hops pellets I use contained. The problem is that very little of the aroma or bitterness actually made it into the beer, and I was using 1 ounce per steeper. I have yet to try them for dry hopping where this product may shine, but for use in boil they are not very practical.

This is the first hop steeper I've bought. Relatively new to home brewing (1-2 years) and am still trying to fine tune my process. On other brews I have just poured the dry hop pellets directly into the wort and strained it out before kegging which makes a lot more of a mess. This hop steeper works in principal, but I'm not sure enough of the flavor is transferred... When I removed the 1oz of wet/used hops at the end of the week long dry hop, the hop steeper was packed so tight I had to use a butter knife to open and remove all of the hop residue. It's probably best to use one hop steeper for every 1/2oz of hop pellets to allow enough room for the hops to be free floating in the liquid.

Did a great job keeping the hops out, I was a little afraid that the clasp was going to come undone, but it didn't after all the stirring. It is a little small; you really need to buy one for each hop addition as it isn't big enough to hold additional hop pellets after they have expanded. Ended up throwing the rest of the hops in the wort and straining out with the funnel, I think I will buy the fine mesh bags next. I will give it a 2 because it is small, if it were the size of a softball I would it a 5.

I used these tea ball for dry hopping, never again. To my suprise the most important part of the tea ball isn't stainless steel. The rivet that holds the clasp on is some sort of pot metal. It corroded after a couple of dry hopping was rendered useless. I would strongly advise against using this product.